The present invention relates to the problem of cleaning up water insoluble residue, such as inks used in printing. The present invention is especially well adapted to use in cleaning screens used in screen printing.
In screen printing, a screen having a pattern mask thereon is flooded with ink which is forced through the open pores of the screen onto the surface to be printed by means of a squeegee. After a run of printing has been completed, the screen has to be removed and cleaned.
Typically, dirty screens are cleaned by placing them in a sink, rinsing them with a solvent which will dissolve the ink, removing the screen and then flushing the solvent and ink down the drain with a stream of water. This is a very messy procedure. Perhaps more importantly, it is environmentally unsound. Even if a biodegradable solvent is used, the water insoluble ink itself is an unacceptable pollutant.
Also, they are sometimes cleaned by placing them on absorbant towelling, hand washing and rinsing them with flammable solvent which will remove the ink, and then drying them with absorbant towelling. The solvent soaked towelling is then discarded as waste, creating a continuing fire hazard.